Google found guilty of restricting Android forks in South Korea, fined $177 million

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Google has been fined 207.4 billion won (around $177 million) in South Korea for abusing its dominant market position to stop device manufacturers from using modified versions of Android, Bloomberg reports. Specifically, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) is taking issue with the anti-fragmentation agreements (AFA) Google has manufacturers like Samsung sign, which prevents it from making changes to the operating system.

The ruling prohibits Google from forcing manufacturers to sign these AFAs, and will also require it to modify existing agreements.

The regulator is concerned that restricting these forks to the OS has prevented the emergence of viable competitors to Android from the likes of Amazon and Alibaba. Android is currently...